1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a farmland management system and a farmland management method for managing farmlands.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applying information technology to farmlands (including farms and ranches) is not easy because the quality and yield of farming products largely depend on natural environmental conditions such as the weather. However, in view of the aging population and the shortage of agricultural manpower, there is a growing demand for improving productivity in farmlands. Also, there is a demand for applying information technology to know-how associated with cultivating crops in order to support people that are not necessarily experienced in crop cultivation.
In view of such demands, some applications of information technology to farmlands have been proposed (e.g., see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-18918). Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-18918 discloses a farm management system for determining conditions of a farm from a remote location other than the farm and remotely managing the farm.
Even when information technology is applied to farmlands, there is still a demand for achieving high quality and high yield of crops that are harvested. However, conventional applications of information technology to farmlands do not include techniques for detecting information relating to crops, and estimating/determining growth conditions of the crops based on the detected information relating to the crops.
That is, owing to the conventional practice of relying on know-how such as the experience and intuition of the cultivator in managing information such as environmental information affecting crop quality and growth, for example, and controlling operations such as irrigation to adjust the moisture in the soil, for example, the quality and yield of crops may significantly vary depending on the cultivator.
Also, in order to determine how information on the moisture in the soil and the like affects the crop quality and yield, for example, a farming/cultivation log is preferably kept for collecting data affecting the growth of crops. However, such a detailed farming/cultivation log is not generated in conventional farmland information technology applications.